Chris Johnstone

Chris initially set up this centre as a way of bringing his training work with him when he moved from Bristol to the North of Scotland. With a background in medicine, psychology and coaching, he’d worked for many years in the UK health service as a doctor and addictions specialist. As a Senior Teaching Fellow at Bristol University Medical School, he’d developed a pioneering Behavioural Medicine training programme for medical students; he’d also set up one of Europe’s first adult education programmes in Positive Psychology. The annual Bristol Happiness Lectures grew out of this.

Working with Jenny Mackewn, Chris set up Facilitation For Life On Earth to offer workshops that strengthen people’s capacity to respond global issues, and also facilitator trainings to support others to run similar workshops. Much influenced by Chris and Jenny’s close association with US author and activist Joanna Macy, these trainings draw upon the Work That Reconnects, the pioneering empowering approach she developed. Working so well with Jenny, it seemed a natural choice to invite her to join him in developing the Centre.

More recently Chris participated in further coaching training through MentorCoach, through this meeting Sheri Hendricks. Discovering their common interest in Resilience Training, they started laying the foundations for the Centre’s Cancer Resilience project and working together on the Motivational Interviewing Gems tele-seminar. Sheri has also become part of our core team developing this centre.

Chris is particularly interested in developing self-help resources and passing on self-help skills. His first book Find Your Power offers a toolkit of strategies for strengthening resilience and our ability to bring about positive change - both in our lives and the world. He is also co-presenter, with Positive Psychologist Miriam Akhtar, of The Happiness Training Plan CD. More recently he co-wrote Active Hope with Joanna Macy, this book offering insights and processes that support our empowered response to global issues.

Chris has a personal website at www.chrisjohnstone.infoYou can contact him by clicking on the ‘contact me’ link at the bottom of the page.